Church Of St Wendreda

TL 49 NW MARCH CHURCH STREET (East Side)

8/9 Church of St 13. 3.51 Wendreda

GV I

Parish Church, mainly mid C14, c1400, late C15 and c1528. Restored 1874. Rubblestone with Barnack limestone dressings and flint and brick to late C15 clerestorey. Roof of nave leaded with tiles to rebuilt roof of chancel. Plan of West tower, nave, North and South aisles. South porch, and chancel. Four stage West tower and spire, 1350-1400, embattled with five stage buttressing. The ground stage spans a right of way or processional route with two loop window openings to the nave. Reticulated tracery to fenestration including fine west window, and bell chamber openings, Projecting newel stair turret in South East angle. Gable end of C14 nave roof visible in East wall of Tower. Nave, C14 with clerestorey and roof of late C15. Rubblestone, Barnack dressings, flint and brick. Embattled with gable end parapet surmounted by bellcote. Clerestorey of flint and stone flushwork. Each side with nine windows, each of two cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery in four centred arches with red brick and flint voussoirs. South aisle rebuilt in late C15, rubblestone and Barnack, embattled and on splayed plinth with band of quartrefoils. Main cornice with beast gargoyles. Two stage buttressing between bays, each having a window of three cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery. The South porch is similar to the South aisle and is dated 1528 (on beam in roof). Paired grotesques to main cornice. Ogee outer arch with ogee and hollow moulding and engaged shafts to responds. Inner arch of two continuous moulded order in two centred arch. Original roof with hollow chamfered main beam. Chancel rebuilt 1874 by W. Smith. In C14 style with reticulated tracery. Interior; South arcade late C13. Two centred arches to five bays, each with two chamfered orders on octagonal columns. The fifth bay is narrower. The North arcade although similar is later with four and a half bays. The westernmost bay has been incorporated in the tower. Two centred arches of three chamfered orders on octagonal columns and bases. The angel roof of the nave is particularly fine. It is of double hammer beam construction with a tier of winged angels to the soffits of the jackposts as well as the hammer beams. The North and South aisles are of similar late C15 date with blind arcading to the North and South walls. The font is C12, recut. There are brasses to Andrew Dredeman (d.1501) and his wife in the nave floor and to Anthony Hansard (d.1507) and his wife, in the South aisle.

Pevsner: Buildings of England p.437 V.C.H. Cambs. Vol. 4 T Bevis: The Story of a Famous Fen Church

Listing NGR: TL4151295211